Following yesterday’s developments it now looks like there could be as many as 14 teams racing in F1 in 2010.

It would be fabulous to see 28-car Formula 1 grids, but is it really likely? I’m not sure.

The new teams

Back in the dark days of the budget cap row, the FIA opened a tender to allow three new teams in and named USF1, Campos Meta 1 and Manor Motorsport as the entries.

Then, when BMW announced it was pulling out of the sport and declined to sign the new Concorde Agreement, the tender process was re-opened for another team. Yesterday the Malaysian government-backed Lotus project was named as the winner.

However the FIA also declared itself impressed with the quality of a re-application put forward by the buyers of the BMW team, backed by a Swiss investment foundation called Qadbak. It has said the team will have first refusal on any further vacancies that should arise, and will try to have the entry list expanded to 14 teams for 2010 to accommodate them.

This last point is interesting because the FIA clearly believes it is possible under the new Concorde Agreement to increase the entry from 26 to 28, but not to allow teams to run a third car, which Mosley dismissed as “fantasy” earlier this week.

Getting the other teams to agree to a 14th entrant might not be easy: it means less room at the tracks and more competition for points, prize money and sponsorship. However, a 14th team might not be necessary if other entries are pulled.

Who could drop out?

It was hard to ignore the fact that the FIA’s decision to grant BMW the ’14th slot’ came as new developments were breaking in the Renault case.

The offer of immunity to Pat Symonds is a clear sign the FIA believe the crash plot did not begin and end with the director of engineering and Nelson Piquet Jnr. The prospective of a heavy punishment for the team looms, and given their lack of a title sponsor for 2010 (as far as we know) and the poor state of the new car market, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Renault quit the sport. They could repeat their actions of 1985, where they wound up their factory race team but remained as an engine supplier.

Doubts remain over Toyota’s F1 future as well. The team are still without a win as their eighth season in the sport draws to a close, and following the arrival of Akio Toyoda as president of Toyota Motor Corp the decision on the team’s 2010 budget has been deferred until November.

Meanwhile at least one of the proposed new entrants for 2010 – Campos – has complained that its original plans for how it would afford to compete in 2010 have been thrown into jeopardy because the budget cap rules weren’t passed.

The teams that signed the new Concorde Agreement pledged to remain in F1 until 2012. Presumably there are financial penalties for teams that withdraw but the fact remains that we’ve lost two manufacturer teams in less than 12 months and more could follow.

Faced with this it’s hard to believe there could actually be 28 cars on the grid next year, though it is an appealing idea. If we end up with more than the 20 we have this year – and the new entries are competitive – I’d consider that a result.

If 28 cars are competing, would they consider giving points to the top 10 places?

Yes, I know there have been far more cars vying for fewer points places in the past, but so much is made these days of the money teams get from their final positions in the Constructors Championship that you’d have to think they’d consider awading points to the top 10 finishers.

I’d much rather see 28 cars from 14 teams than the front runners running 3 cars each and locking out the points positions. We don’t need a third Ferrari in the field.

So Lotus will use cosworth engines?, and the Hinwill squad will also use Cosworth engines, thats why the FIA are soooooooo impressed by them.

If Renault stay on as an engine supplier I can see them earning a nice little wage, since with the engine “freeze” (which is more of an engine sorbet come to think of it) the development cost associated with power units have dramatically decreased. Especially since Uncle Flava refuses to sprinkle cinamon on the renault sorbet or add a palate cleansing couli.

Tortured metaphors aside Renault could do well with just an engine supply deal in future.

It would be a shame if any of the new teams dropped out, but I don’t think they should be penalised if they did. They applied to compete in F1 on the promise of budget caps which hasn’t materialised. All of their cost forecasts and marketing deals would have been based on this.

Still should get a car to the grid, because they have technology partner deals with leading teams which should subsurdise some of the gap. I thought that was part of scrapping the cost cap anyway! I think it will be poor form if the new teams blamed that for not getting cars on the grid, that would be just bad planning and management.

24-26 would be great, 22 doesn’t really change many things, but 4-6 more cars in the mid to rear will help with the middle to end of the race where everyone has spaced out and the midfield runners have no one to race.

i doubt there’ll be 28 cars, not only for size and legal constraints, but i can see at least 1 team dropping out and bmw filling that void.

-team will shrink, size is still open though(he expects 250-300 though, citing that size from an agreement between FIA and the teams (I think that’s news, never heard details about that agreement, should apply to other teams as well))-Ferrari Engine and Gearbox

-he doesn’t know Lionel Fisher in person

-he says he has to be above the FIA decision and is sure at least one of the teams will not make it to the 2010 grid

Whoever and whatever hits the grid, I think we are going to have 2 tier racing, the 4 potential cosworth entrants and then the rest of the field. If I were a betting man I think we are likely to see 24 cars take the grid, but i’d love to see 28, first corner incidents, safety cars and then no fuel strats may make for some interesting racing…….Hooray! ;)

I’d say 12-13, it doesn’t look good for Rebnault at the moment, Toyota I think may just stay in the sport. The ‘new BMW’ has already seemed like it might get Ferrari engines if it is on the grid. Campos have been hurt by no budget cap but Manor seem quite quiet right now.

Meanwhile at least one of the proposed new entrants for 2010 â€“ Campos â€“ has complained that its original plans for how it would afford to compete in 2010 have been thrown into jeopardy because the budget cap rules werenâ€™t passed.
If I was AdriÃ¡n Campos SuÃ±er, and my team was in trouble, I’d have no doubts calling Joan Villadelprat i Bernal of a certain outfit called Epsilon Euskadi to join the fray.

Sauber will get back to the grid either way. Such a stable team since 1993 with that amount of high tech stuff in Hinwil, and now equipped with Ferrari engines (remember the good old Sauber-Petronas times? :), and possibly driven by Fisichella (free engine testing for the Ferrari, looks pretty much possible, and i would say with Klien or Heidfeld. So Sauber will definetly be there for sure!

I only hope that the new teams get “lucky” like Brawn GP or Force India, or Toro Rosso when Berger was there. If Toro Rosso were still competitive, we would have the most competitive grid in decades… I mean, Rosberg can be 5th in several races in a row and suddenly have a poor weekend and race at the wrong end of the grid… The Red Bulls can be fighting for the championship one day and the next, struggling for a poing… We thought the Brawns would fly away and Button would already be champion by now and they have to deal with McLaren and Ferrari again…
No refuelling and more cars will bring F1 to a new golden age! I remember I used to love when championship contenders reached and lapped a group of 5 or 6 cars that were racing like crazy for 12th-17th position. The leaders were prone to error, the lapped cars would try to use the leaders to overtake the other lapped cars… And all that, say, at the end of a race! I can’t wait for 2010!